3M Gulf employee wellness challenge with YuMuuv

3M Gulf Case Study: How a Simple FIT Challenge Doubled Participation

3M Gulf, part of the global science and manufacturing company 3M, wanted a wellness program that would bring employees together and support both physical and mental wellbeing. YuMuuv spoke with Taha Mirza, Sales Specialist at 3M Gulf, about the company's FIT Challenge, why simplicity mattered and how the team keeps people engaged.

Table of Contents

At a Glance

  • Company: 3M Gulf
  • Program: the FIT Challenge, run with YuMuuv, alongside Mindful Mondays
  • Need: a really simple, user-friendly platform everyone could use
  • Result: participation roughly doubled compared with the previous year, and employees rated the program highly

A Culture That Values Wellbeing

For 3M Gulf, wellness is part of a wider commitment to workplace culture and inclusion. "It's something very, very near and dear to 3M," Mirza said. "3M is an equal opportunity employer."

That commitment covers mental health as much as physical health. "Mental health and mental well-being is something that we keep reiterating, and we've got different programs for that," Mirza said. "Wellbeing is something that's not just physical, it's mental as well."

One of those programs is Mindful Mondays. "We run something called Mindful Mondays, where we post different topics like resilience mindset, how to cope with stress, and so on," he explained. "We post links to some TED Talks, or sometimes we bring in speakers."

Why 3M Gulf Chose YuMuuv: Simplicity

The goal was a challenge everyone could join, regardless of how sporty or tech-savvy they were. "The only way to have that goal was to get something that was really user-friendly and something very simple," Mirza explained. "Some people even found Strava to be complicated. So that was one of the main goals of looking for a platform, and YuMuuv made the cut."

The FIT Challenge: Bringing People Together

The FIT Challenge, run in partnership with YuMuuv, became one of the company's most engaging wellness initiatives. "The Fit Challenge brought a lot of people together," Mirza said. "There was a lot of cohesiveness when it came to employees talking to each other, and then that competition brought in that positive energy and pushed employees to go beyond what they would normally do."

The in-app chat played a big part in that atmosphere. Mirza described it as "very helpful" and said that "all in all, it was a very positive experience."

Results

  • Participation roughly doubled compared with the previous year's program.
  • High satisfaction – employees rated the challenge a nine or ten on the company's "smile meter".
  • Stronger connections between colleagues during and after the challenge.

3M Gulf also linked the challenge to health outcomes. "We tried to put in place a few things like being fit could cause lesser visits to hospitals or clinics," Mirza said. "If people measured their blood work before and after, they saw improvements in their health."

How 3M Gulf Keeps Employees Engaged

Keeping people involved after the first challenge is one of the hardest parts of any wellness program. For 3M Gulf, the answer is steady communication. "We try to keep our communication constant," Mirza said. "That's the only way we could keep things consistent. Consistency is something very important when it comes to such activities."

Key Takeaways for HR Teams

  1. Choose a simple tool. If people find the app complicated, they will not join. Easy onboarding matters more than features.
  2. Combine physical and mental wellbeing. A fitness challenge and a regular mental health theme such as Mindful Mondays reach different people.
  3. Use friendly competition to create energy – and the chat to turn it into connection.
  4. Communicate constantly. Consistency is what keeps engagement high between challenges.

Run Your Own FIT Challenge

Want to replicate 3M Gulf's results? Start with our guide on how to organize a company fitness challenge, pair it with a mindfulness challenge for mental wellbeing, and see how to create a culture of wellness. For more customer stories, visit our case studies.

Book a demo to see how YuMuuv can work for your team.